The NBA Players Association has seen some of its most highlighted members consciously and adamantly make their voices heard in response to the tragic police-related shootings and unjust acts of violence around the country. LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony delivered a powerful message in those sentiments at the ESPYs. More players have spoken out and offered their
Anthony, the Association’s Vice President, has urged athletes to use their platforms and be vocal about these issues. Anthony led a town hall meeting in Los Angeles last month with other athletes and police officials to ignite substantive dialogue about community relations.
NBPA executive director Michele Roberts voices nothing but support for players who have been actively speaking out, via Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe:
Social activism is becoming more popular among players and Roberts fully supports their efforts. Will this affect the relationship between owners — 29 of whom are not black — and the predominantly African-American players, especially when labor negotiations for a new contract are ongoing?
“I can tell you this, I haven’t heard a single complaint from a player or heard a single owner say that any of the expressions we’ve seen the last few weeks was problematic,” Roberts told the Globe. “I’m not saying that that’s not the case, that there aren’t owners that may feel that way, but they haven’t expressed it to me or any of my players. I would like to believe that the owners, despite the fact that they are [mostly] white, that they’re all bright enough to appreciate and understand that what is happening in our community is a source of distress and not in any way suggest what the players did was inappropriate.
“I’m going to assume the owners, whether they stand in solidarity or not, unless I hear otherwise, do not take issue and do not otherwise believe the players should be in any way shut down because of what they’ve done or what they will do going forward, assuming that this is consistent with what we’ve seen.”
NBA players such as Kemba Walker have made their concerns publicly known and want to be more involved in developing solutions. Roberts even takes a sense of pride in seeing their genuine efforts to do so:
“I’m three times as old as most of them and it makes me incredibly proud and the fact that it was some of the more popular members of our community that did the ESPYs,” she said. “Let’s face it, the marquee players are the players that get
attention. They get fan attention and frankly they get the attention of the other players. It was powerful beyond belief that those four men did it and because of their popularity, what they did reverberated around the globe. And so I love and respect obviously all the players that comprise our membership, but I think they would all agree if you have those stars among stars taking the lead and making statements along those lines, it just generates more attention. We want attention to these issues so keep it up, and I think they will.”
